Friday, December 21, 2012

Fear keeps Egypt's Christians away from polls

In this Tuesday, Dec. 18, 2012 photo, towers of churches are silhouetted against the sun in the village of El-Aziyah near the city of Assiut, southern Egypt. After a campaign of intimidation by Islamists, most Christians in this southern Egyptian province were too afraid to participate in last week?s referendum on an Islamist-drafted constitution they desperately oppose, residents say. Some of the few who dared try to reach polls were pelted by stones. The disenfranchising hikes Christians? worries over their future under Egypt?s empowered Islamists, but some young members of the community are starting to push back.(AP Photo/Petr David Josek)

In this Tuesday, Dec. 18, 2012 photo, towers of churches are silhouetted against the sun in the village of El-Aziyah near the city of Assiut, southern Egypt. After a campaign of intimidation by Islamists, most Christians in this southern Egyptian province were too afraid to participate in last week?s referendum on an Islamist-drafted constitution they desperately oppose, residents say. Some of the few who dared try to reach polls were pelted by stones. The disenfranchising hikes Christians? worries over their future under Egypt?s empowered Islamists, but some young members of the community are starting to push back.(AP Photo/Petr David Josek)

In this Tuesday, Dec. 18, 2012 photo, women sit with their children in their house in the village of El-Aziyah near the city of Assiut, southern Egypt. After a campaign of intimidation by Islamists, most Christians in this southern Egyptian province were too afraid to participate in last week?s referendum on an Islamist-drafted constitution they desperately oppose, residents say. Some of the few who dared try to reach polls were pelted by stones. The disenfranchising hikes Christians? worries over their future under Egypt?s empowered Islamists, but some young members of the community are starting to push back. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)

In this Tuesday, Dec. 18, 2012 photo, men ride a motorcycle past a church in Assiut, southern Egypt. After a campaign of intimidation by Islamists, most Christians in this southern Egyptian province were too afraid to participate in last week?s referendum on an Islamist-drafted constitution they desperately oppose, residents say. Some of the few who dared try to reach polls were pelted by stones. The disenfranchising hikes Christians? worries over their future under Egypt?s empowered Islamists, but some young members of the community are starting to push back. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)

In this Tuesday, Dec. 18, 2012 photo, women attend a class in a church in the village of El-Aziyah near the city of Assiut, southern Egypt. After a campaign of intimidation by Islamists, most Christians in this southern Egyptian province were too afraid to participate in last week?s referendum on an Islamist-drafted constitution they desperately oppose, residents say. Some of the few who dared try to reach polls were pelted by stones. The disenfranchising hikes Christians? worries over their future under Egypt?s empowered Islamists, but some young members of the community are starting to push back.(AP Photo/Petr David Josek)

In this Tuesday, Dec. 18, 2012 photo, an elderly woman walks in a church in Assiut, southern Egypt. After a campaign of intimidation by Islamists, most Christians in this southern Egyptian province were too afraid to participate in last week?s referendum on an Islamist-drafted constitution they desperately oppose, residents say. Some of the few who dared try to reach polls were pelted by stones. The disenfranchising hikes Christians? worries over their future under Egypt?s empowered Islamists, but some young members of the community are starting to push back.(AP Photo/Petr David Josek)

ASSIUT, Egypt (AP) ? A campaign of intimidation by Islamists left most Christians in this southern Egyptian province too afraid to participate in last week's referendum on an Islamist-drafted constitution they deeply oppose, residents say. The disenfranchisement is hiking Christians' worries over their future under empowered Muslim conservatives.

Around a week before the vote, some 50,000 Islamists marched through the provincial capital, Assiut, chanting that Egypt will be "Islamic, Islamic, despite the Christians." At their head rode several bearded men on horseback with swords in scabbards on their hips, evoking images of early Muslims conquering Christian Egypt in the 7th Century.

They made sure to go through mainly Christian districts of the city, where residents, fearing attacks, shuttered down their stores and stayed in their homes, witnesses said.

The day of the voting itself on Saturday, Christian voting was minimal ? as low as seven percent in some areas, according to church officials. Some of those who did try to head to polling stations in some villages were pelted by stones, forcing them to turn back without casting ballots, Christian activists and residents told The Associated Press this week.

The activists now see what happened in Assuit as a barometer for what Christians' status will be under a constitution that enshrines a greater role for Shariah, or Islamic law, in government and daily life. Even under the secular regime of autocrat Hosni Mubarak, Egypt's Christians complained of discrimination and government failure to protect them and their rights. They fear it will be worse with the Islamists who have dominated Egypt's political landscape since Mubarak's ouster in February 2011.

"When all issues become religious and all the talk is about championing Islam and its prophet, then, as a Christian, I am excluded from societal participation," said Shady Magdy Tobia, a Christian activist in Assiut. "If this does not change, things will only get worse for Christians."

But some of the Christians of Assiut are pushing back against the emboldened Islamists. In recent weeks, young Christians joined growing street protests to demand that the charter is shelved, casting aside decades of political apathy.

Assiut province is significant because it is home to one of Egypt's largest Christian communities ? they make up about 35 percent of the population of 4.5 million, perhaps three times the nationwide percentage. At the same time, it is a major stronghold of Egypt's Islamists, who now dominate its local government. The province was the birthplace of some of the country's most radical Islamist groups and was the main battlefield of an insurgency by Muslim militants in the 1990s.

It was one of 10 provinces that voted in the first round of Egypt's referendum. Nationwide, around 56 percent voted in favor of the draft charter, according to preliminary results. Assiut had one of the strongest "yes" votes at more than 77 percent. It also had a turnout of only 28 percent ? one of the lowest in a round marred by a low participation of only 32 percent nationwide.

The second and final round will held the coming Saturday in 17 provinces, including in Minya, which has the country's highest proportion of Christians, at 36 percent.

Rights groups reported attempts at suppression of the "no" vote in many parts of the country. But Christians say intimidation and suppression are more effective in this smaller, largely rural province.

"In Assiut, we face more danger than in Cairo," said businessman Emad Awny Ramzy, a key organizer of local protests against Islamist President Mohammed Morsi and his ruling Muslim Brotherhood. "Here they can easily identify, monitor and attack us."

A senior figure of the Gamaa Islamiya ? which was once one of the main groups waging the Islamic militant insurgency in Assiut but has since renounced violence and is allied to Morsi's government ? dismissed the Christians' allegations of intimidation in the province.

The claims are "just lies and rumors that surface every time we have an election," Assem Abdel-Magued said. The Brotherhood and officials in Morsi's government have similarly dismissed claims of violations around the country.

The draft constitution, finalized by Islamists on a Constituent Assembly despite a boycott by liberals and Christians, has polarized Egypt, bringing out huge rival street rallies by both camps in the past four weeks. Opponents of Morsi accuse him of ramming the document through and, more broadly, of imposing a Brotherhood domination of power. Morsi supporters, in turn, accuse his opponents of seeking to thwart a right to bring Islamic law they say they earned with election victories the past year.

Egypt's main Coptic Orthodox Church and smaller ones have taken an uncharacteristically assertive approach in the constitutional struggle. They withdrew their six members from the Constituent Assembly to protest Islamist domination of the process and later refused to send representatives to a "national dialogue" called for by Morsi.

The new Coptic pope, Tawadros II, enthroned last month, publicly called some of the charter's articles "disastrous."

In response, the Muslim Brotherhood ? which usually keeps a moderate tone toward Christians ? has turned toward more inflammatory rhetoric.

Senior Brotherhood figure Mohammed el-Beltagi in a newspaper interview this week depicted mass anti-Morsi rallies outside the presidential palace in Cairo this month as mainly made up of Christians, hinting at a Christian conspiracy against the president.

In a recent speech, Safwat Hegazi, a famous Islamist preacher linked to the Brotherhood, warned Christians against joining forces with former Mubarak regime figures to topple Morsi.

"I tell the church, yes, you are our brothers in Egypt, but there are red lines. Our red line is Morsi's legitimacy. Whoever dares splash it with water, we will splash him with blood," he said, using an Arabic saying.

In Assiut, Tobia, Ramzy and other Christian activists spoke of an atmosphere of intimidation ahead of the vote, including the large Islamist march.

They said threatening messages were sent on mobile phones and on social networking sites. During an opposition demonstration on Dec. 7 outside the offices of the Brotherhood's political party in Assiut, suspected Morsi supporters seized six protesters ? five Muslims and one Christian ? beating them and shaving the head of one.

With tension building up over the last four weeks, many Christian voters registered at polling centers located in predominantly Muslim areas did not vote, fearing violence, they said.

Those who made it to polling centers in districts with significant Christian populations were soon frustrated by the long lines or delays, which activists said was intentional. In some cases, they said, Islamists who had voted elsewhere then went to stand in lines in mainly Christian areas to make them longer, increase delays and prompt Christians to give up and leave.

Two Christian clerics said that outside the province's main cities, only about 12 percent of registered Christian voters left their homes on Saturday to vote and that no more than seven percent were able to cast their ballots. They based the figures on statistics gathered by members of the Coptic Church's youth group who monitored voting across the province. The two clerics spoke on condition of anonymity because of sensitivities over the church role in political issues.

In the Christian village of el-Aziyah, only 2,350 of the village's 12,100 registered voters cast ballots on Saturday, according to acting mayor Montaser Malek Yacoub.

Yacoub is among the growing number of Christians who are pushing back against persecution.

He has taken advantage of the tenuous security situation of the past two years and built two churches without permits and reclaimed a large area of state-owned desert that lies outside the village's boundaries toward a rock mountain. Under Mubarak's rule, Christians rarely received permits to build or renovate churches.

"Let me just tell you this: As far as I am concerned, this is our country and everyone else are guests," he said. But "we're ready to cooperate with anyone who shares Egypt with us."

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2012-12-19-Egypt-Christians/id-33c521a6b29f43ca8ca907d51e619aa0

eric johnson big east tournament ashley olsen new apple tv sun flare love hewitt new ipad

Protect your family home this Christmas! | Irish Life Blog

Protect your family home this Christmas!

?

Some tips to help ensure your home is secure over the festive season:

Searched the internet and there are lots of information as to keep your home safe this Christmas, a selection of these are listed below:

Festive lighting ? be secure. A common mistake of many festive decorators is to feed extension cables through partially open windows, criminals know to look for this vulnerability. When it comes to outdoor lighting, opt for solar or battery operated lights or install outdoor electrical outlets.

Dispose of gift packaging carefully.?Refuse collections over the Christmas and New Year period are normally at different times. If you can?t take packaging to a recycling point, make sure you only put your rubbish out just before the collection and do your best to break apart boxes so that they do not advertise your new contents of your home to thieves!

Be careful not to advertise your home to burglars on social media!?Social media savvy families have a tendency to publish their whereabouts during the holiday season, including any vacation plans. This lets burglars know when your house is going to be empty. Uploaded photos of pricey Christmas gifts can also be a problem as it basically allows burglars to go shopping just by viewing your Facebook profile.

Check doors and windows for weak spots. Installing a few dead-bolts and new window hinges could increase the security of your home exponentially.

Keep your curtains, drapes and window blinds closed at night, making sure valuable items are out of sight. When going out for the evening make use of inexpensive timers to give the illusion of occupancy.

Away over Christmas ? plan ahead!!. If you?re going away at Christmas be sure to cancel any newspaper or milk subscriptions. Arrange for a neighbour to park on the driveway to help create the impression someone is home. Do not to leave descriptive telephone answering machine messages or and again make use of light timers.

Secure garages & sheds. Make sure that garden tools or ladders that could be used to force entry into your home are not left lying around or accessible from an unlocked garden shed. Garages are often targets for burglars looking for tools, bikes and gardening equipment ? make sure the garage is secure and your possessions are secured too in the case of bikes and tools. Naturally make sure anything portable / valuable is recorded on immobilise.

Don?t hide keys & use alarms if you have them. Burglars know to look for hidden door keys so don?t hide spare keys under rocks, in flowerpots, or above door ledges. Instead give the spare key to family or trusted neighbour. Many houses these days have alarms, many though are rarely set, make sure yours is on and protecting your home.

An Garda S?och?na have lots of useful information covering all areas of personal safety/burglary prevention:?http://www.garda.ie/Controller.aspx?Page=1921&Lang=1

Below is one of the information sheets found on the link above.. I challenge all to do the check list, just how many ?No?s? will you get?

?

An Garda S?och?na Crime Prevention Information Sheet

Burglars like easy opportunities. If they have to make a lot of noise, spend a lot of time or risk being seen, the chances are they won?t bother. A good rule of thumb is the 3 minute delay test. If you can deny entry for 3 min- utes or more ? chances are the burglars will go elsewhere. Complete this simple home security survey to deter- mine how well your home is secured against burglary. Ignore questions not relevant to your own home.

Remember, every NO answer is a threat to your home security.

Doors and Windows

  1. Are all your external doors properly fitted and equipped with appropriate secure locking sys- tems? (i.e. 5-lever mortice locks for wooden doors, multi-point locking for uPVC doors etc.)
  2. If you have glass panelled doors ? are they reinforced in some way so that they cannot be shattered?
  3. Have you a wide-angled viewer in your front/main entrance doors or other means of viewing callers?
  4. Do you have a door chain / limiter fitted and do you use it?
  5. Since moving into your home (where there may have been a previous occupier) have you had the locks changed?
  6. Are your spare keys kept with a trusted neighbour and never left under an external mat, flower pot etc.
  7. Do you lock your external doors when away from home, no matter how short a time?
  8. Do you lock the doors out of your view when working in the garden / yard?
  9. Have you installed an additional lock(s) to your sliding glass / patio doors?
  10. Can you close and lock your garage / outhouse doors?
  11. Are the garage / outhouse doors protected with quality locks or deadbolts?
  12. Do you close and lock your garage /outhouse doors?
  13. Are all your windows secure?
  14. Can the window openings be restricted for ventilation?
  15. Do you check to see if all windows are secured when you leave your home?

Inside Security

  1. Do you ask for identification before allowing unknown servicemen / callers into your home?
  2. ?Do you avoid leaving cash at home?
  3. Have you automatic timers on some lights when your house is vacant?
  4. Does your home always look like someone is at home?
  5. Have you recorded serial numbers of your valuables?
  6. Have you, for identification purposes, photographed your valuables especially items for which you have no serial numbers such as jewellery, china, crystal, paintings, antiques etc?
  7. Are your car / house keys kept in a location not visible from the outside?

?

Outside Security

  1. Is your house number visible from the street?
  2. Is there sufficient illumination around your home to allow visible inspection of any dark areas around it?
  3. Is there sufficient external lighting outside every door to illuminate visitors?
  4. Do neighbours and passers-by have a clear view of your home?
  5. Have you trimmed all hedges and shrubs so they can?t hide a burglar at work on the windows and doors?
  6. Have you ever walked around your house looking for ways a burglar might be able to get in?
  7. Do you keep tools or ladders etc. in places inaccessible to potential burglars?
  8. Are machines, tools and other high value items stored in garages or sheds securely padlocked or chained to prevent removal?
  9. Is your shed / garage secure?

?

Holiday Security

  1. Have you a reliable neighbour whom you can notify of your travel plans and give a key to, with a request for a periodic house check?
  2. Do you have a neighbour collect your mail or newspapers when you are away or do you avail of Mailminder from An Post?
  3. Do you cancel all deliveries?
  4. Do you have your neighbour park his / her extra car in your driveway when you are away from home?
  5. ?Do you arrange to have your lawn mowed?
  6. Do you notify the Garda? of prolonged absences from your home?

?

Electronic Security

  1. Do you have an intruder alarm system fitted and do you use it?
  2. Does it conform to the European Norm standard EN 50131?
  3. Is it maintained and serviced annually?
  4. Are you aware of the current Garda Intruder Alarm Policy?
  5. Do you know how to operate and use your alarm system functions?
  6. Have you considered connecting it to a monitoring centre or your mobile phone?
  7. Have you appointed a keyholder(s) and will they respond appropriately to an alarm activation?
This entry was posted in General. Bookmark the permalink.

DISCLAIMER: The views and opinions expressed in this blog are the personal views and opinions of the contributor and are not to be attributed to Irish Life.

Source: http://blog.irishlife.ie/general/protect-your-family-home-this-christmas/

Presidential Election 2012 Incumbent politico Tammy Baldwin house of representatives paul ryan michele bachmann

94% Looper

All Critics (233) | Top Critics (41) | Fresh (218) | Rotten (15)

The reasoning behind all this may not reward prolonged inspection, but Johnson is smart enough to press onward with his plot, leaving us with neither the time nor the desire to linger over the logic ...

Writer-director Rian Johnson establishes himself as an original talent who clearly believes storytelling must prevail.

A mind-bending ride that is not afraid to slow down now and again, to explore themes of regret and redemption, solitude and sacrifice, love and loss. It's a movie worth seeing and, perhaps, going back to see again.

Looper has more heart than Brick and the 2008 con-man flick The Brothers Bloom. Both fine achievements, they could also be described as viscerally cerebral.

I'm a sucker for time-travel movies.

Looper felt to me like a maddening near-miss ...

The movie is morally murky, to put it lightly, and that's a bit refreshing; we're made to think about why we want the protagonists to achieve their goals.

Intelligent, extremely imaginative, visually stunning and constantly surprising, this is filmmaking of the highest order from Rian Johnson.

Looper is among the cleverest, most skillfully crafted and entertaining sci-fi thrillers of the past 20 years.

The smartest, most stylish and most outright entertaining science-fiction film of the year.

A thought-provoking, heart-pounding take on the applications and ethics of time travel which, oddly enough, doubles up as a lesson in the importance of good parenting.

This is one of those rare genre movies (like the original TERMINATOR) that reminds us that Sci-Fi can be smart. It's much more than just a bunch of special effects and explosions. It's what all movies should aspire to be.

While it sometimes feels like it's trying to do much, Looper manages to be a creditable and exciting sci-fi flick that homages the past while carving out a unique identity.

Much as he did in Brick, Johnson creates a carefully drawn world in Looper that exists by its own particular set of rules.

... has an irresistible energy and a don't-give-a-damn unpredictability ...

Beautifully crafted, acted and written.

Anchors high-concept thrills and captivating ideas in a world of challenging morality and intricate personal consequences.

Truly imaginative but all the twists and turns make the overall film difficult to follow. Plus Gordon-Levitt has not reached leading man status yet.

Kind of a reverse-"Terminator" without any of James Cameron's wit (or wisdom),

An endlessly creative mind-blowing film that captures everything right about the movie going experience. Johnson conjures up the most imaginative action/science fiction film since 'Inception.'

Part science fiction, part mob movie, and with a nice infusion of dark comedy at just the right moments, Looper is Johnson's best movie yet, and manages to be hugely entertaining, affecting, and thought-provoking.

takes us far beyond the film's high-concept premise into the kind of emotional terrain that too often escapes even the best genre filmmakers

Doesn't quite reach the heights of the lofty ideals that it so ardently seeks to expound, but makes up for this with the sheer thrill of the journey Rian Johnson takes us on.

Ingenious with a fine performance by Emily Blunt, but far too much cold-blooded violence.

Engaging, exciting, and successfully cross-breeding elements of Terminator and even Pet Sematary, Looper is a solid work of palatable science-fiction.

Looper's super. An action-thriller that bothers to have a brain.

Source: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/looper/

michigan primary school shooting daytona 500 winner cleveland plain dealer barry sanders barry sanders john scott

Public workers become vanguard of union fights

22 hrs.

When most people think of unionized workers, they picture a guy in a hard hat walking out of a factory. A more accurate picture might be of a second-grade teacher walking out of a classroom.

Public-sector union members such as teachers, firefighters and other government workers now make up more than half of total union membership in the United States, due mainly to steady declines among private sector union jobs.

The shift means that public-sector unions are increasingly taking on the mantle of representing the fight for broader worker?s rights???beyond just their membership base ? on issues as far-reaching as tax cuts and the fiscal cliff.

?I think we have to be advocating for more than just unions. I think we have to advocate for this whole concept of middle class,? said Dennis Van Roekel, president of the National Education Association, a union representing more than 3 million teachers and other education workers.

They?re also increasingly in the spotlight on more far-reaching union issues, such as the union-weakening ?right to work? legislation that passed last week in Michigan.

But at the same time, public-sector unions are defending themselves against charges that their salaries and benefits cost taxpayers too much money, and are a drain on scarce government resources.

?Fundamentally, in the public sector, the resentment to unions is about taxes,? said Henry Farber, an economics professor at Princeton University. ?In the private sector, it?s about international trade and about companies wanting higher profits.?

The efforts to weaken both public- and private-sector unions are expected to continue in coming months, as experts predict that those who oppose unions work to curb their power in other traditionally labor-friendly states.

About 14.8 million people, or 11.8 percent of U.S. workers, belonged to a union in 2011, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Of that group, about 7.6 million were public-sector workers, while about 7.2 million worked for the private sector.

The ranks of private-sector unions have been decimated over the past few decades by losses in traditionally union-heavy industries like manufacturing. But union membership among government workers has held relatively steady.

About 37 percent of public-sector workers belonged to a union in 2011, compared with just 6.9 percent of private-sector workers.

Politicians who have taken on public-sector unions say the cost of providing government workers with the salaries, health benefits and pensions they were promised has simply become too high. Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, whose successful effort to curtail collective bargaining rights was met with fierce protests and even a recall effort, said he was motivated by state budget woes.

?I?m just trying to balance my budget,? Gov. Walker, a Republican, told The New York Times in 2011.

But others argue that these battles are really about curbing union clout and resources, and note that unions have traditionally been powerful Democratic allies at election time.

?The fight over right-to-work and collective bargaining is really, I think, designed to take away the power that public employees? unions have over the ballot box,? said Michael Hicks, director of the Center for Business and Economic Research at Ball State University.

Experts say there are legitimate concerns about how state governments will be able to pay for the benefits they have promised workers, especially as the population ages and retirees live longer.

Matthew Finkin, a law professor at the University of Illinois and an expert in labor issues, said that over the years a common tactic for keeping government workers happy while also balancing state budgets has been to offer longer-term benefits, such as health care for retirees, in lieu of perks that would be costly in the short-term, such as big salary bumps.

That also was an attractive option to politicians, he said, because chances were low that they would still be in office when the bill actually came due.

?It?s cheap for this legislature to let some other legislature 10 years from now worry about (it),? Finkin said ?They can just push these costs ? kick the can, as they say, down the road. Well, you can?t do that forever.?

The recession and weak recovery has been a severe blow to many state and local budgets, thanks to years of high unemployment and the housing bust. Meanwhile, some believe the gap between what governments have promised workers and what they actually have set aside has topped $1 trillion.

For the 2010 fiscal year, the Pew Research Center estimates that states have set aside about $757 billion less than they need for pension obligations, and about $627 billion less than they need for promised health benefits.

Joshua Rauh, a finance professor at Stanford University, argues that the gap could actually be around four times higher than what Pew estimates. He said that?s because many states use very optimistic models for forecasting their expected returns on investments.

Union advocates like Van Roekel, the president of the NEA, argue that the state governments got themselves in trouble by not setting aside enough money to pay for the things they promised. He argues workers have paid the share they agreed to and should?not be asked to do more.

?I think they have some legitimate problems that were created by not putting in what they should every year,? Van Roekel said. ?But that doesn?t mean (the problems) can be solved.?

But not everyone thinks the financial challenges facing state and local governments can be fixed without workers making a sacrifice. The most high-profile fights have come in states like Wisconsin, which passed legislation severely limiting union workers? bargaining rights, and Ohio, where similar legislation ended up being repealed by a public vote.

Those challenges, along with the anti-union legislation passed in Michigan last week, were backed by Republicans. But in Rhode Island, a Democratic general treasurer, Gina Raimondo, has led an effort to overhaul the state?s pension system. Several unions have challenged the changes in court.

Even some former union members have now become proponents of cutting union jobs and benefits in order to balance budgets.

Greg Goodnight spent six years as the president of the United Steelworkers Local 2958, following in the footsteps of his father, who had also spent years as president of a local union chapter.

Now that he?s the mayor of Kokomo, Ind., Goodnight finds himself on the other side of the bargaining table.

Since taking office in 2008, Goodnight said he has reduced personnel costs from about 78 percent of the city budget to about 64?percent of the budget that is funded by tax dollars. A big chunk of that has come from sharply cutting the number of city employees, from 521 to 436, and asking employees to pay more for things like health care. He froze his own salary at $74,000 as well.

Goodnight said the strict cutbacks were necessary to keep the city solvent. Kokomo is largely reliant on auto manufacturing and hit a peak unemployment rate of 20 percent in June of 2009.?

The Kokomo metropolitan area?s unemployment rate is now around 8 percent, and he said the city is on firm enough financial footing to have recently invested in two new fire stations, two new fire trucks and eight new police cars.

Still, Goodnight admits that cutting jobs and benefits was risky, especially during the bleakest economic times.

?If had to face re-election in that first 10-11 months in office, I probably would have gotten beat 80-20, but fortunately I had four years to address some of these things,? Goodnight said.

He was re-elected in 2011.

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/business/economywatch/teachers-other-government-workers-become-growing-face-union-fights-1C7601572

how i met your mother PNC Bank Jordan Pruitt real housewives of new jersey Kanye West sex tape emmys emmys

Scarlett Johansson tones down the sex as Maggie

NEW YORK (AP) ? In a decision that will make many a man sigh unhappily, Scarlett Johansson won't be bringing sexy back to Broadway.

The actress with the pouty lips and gentle curves that GQ magazine once called "Babe of the Year" is determined to be a more naturalistic Maggie the Cat in a revival of Tennessee Williams' "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" that opens Jan. 17.

That's the same role Elizabeth Taylor embodied while virtually purring in a satin slip. And her successors ? Anika Noni Rose, Ashley Judd and Kathleen Turner, among them ? all played it to variously breathless, sexy degrees.

But Johansson talks about how she approached the predatory feline of Williams' classic Southern play sounding like the way she herself would prefer to be described.

"I think her sexuality is often overplayed and over-appreciated. It's such an unimportant part of this story," Johansson says one recent morning during rehearsals.

"I mean, it comes with the circumstance, of course, and the settling and the words ? that's already there. There's no need to drape yourself all over the stage and roll around in a satin sheet."

If that puts a dent in the box office, so be it, says the four-time Golden Globe nominated star of "Lost in Translation" and "The Avengers." Quips Johansson: "There's always the half-price ticket line."

The new production is led by director Rob Ashford and co-stars Benjamin Walker as Maggie's drunken, disinterested husband, Ciaran Hinds as Big Daddy and Debra Monk as Big Mama.

"It's really a beautiful play, really a perfect play, I think," she says, smoldering even though she wears a demure dark pantsuit and stripped top. "If the play fails, it's our fault."

Johansson arrives for her morning interview already tired, having woken before dawn to appear on the "Today" show. "If I have any more coffee, I'll explode into another stratosphere," the actress warns.

Johansson, 28, has already proved she has the acting chops for Broadway, having won a best featured actress Tony Award in 2010 in Arthur Miller's "A View From the Bridge" opposite Liev Schreiber.

It was a victory from a stage novice that silenced critics who had moaned about movie stars with dubious skills showing up in Times Square simply to sell tickets. Johansson insist she had nothing to prove.

"I'm just happy the stage door is still open and I can walk through it," she says. "I was just happy to survive the run, really. Honestly. I expected to be lambasted. I knew that was a possibility going into it. But that's OK."

She has thrown herself into her new role, seeing Maggie as "a force of nature" and having "an almost divine determination." Ashford says Johansson came into rehearsal the first day already having memorized her lines, impressing her co-stars.

"She loves the work, she loves creating the characters," he says. "She's an actress. She's not a theater star or a movie star. She's an actor first and so she's both, therefore. She can do both, as she's proven."

Johansson has avoided as best she can seeing other actresses play Maggie, although she was in the audience to see Judd portray her opposite Jason Patric in 2003.

She has managed to avoid ever catching Taylor in the 1958 classic film, except for a few minutes. It happened while she was looking up a Marlon Brando film online and YouTube recommended a clip from "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof."

"I clicked and watched a couple of minutes and I realized it was a terrible idea," she says. "Not saying anything about the film, it's just a different version of the story."

She and Ashford are after a more naturalized take. To that end, Maggie will be trying to seduce her husband emotionally, not physically. "What we've set out from the beginning is to take these characters off these pedestals where they've been placed and try to put them back in the play," Ashford says.

OK, then what about the poster for the show, which features a reclining Johansson, lips slightly apart, loosely wrapped in white material and looking almost post-coital? Ashley sees not sex, but ache. "I think it's her longing," he says.

Johansson had been looking for a way to return to Broadway since "A View From the Bridge" closed. She sifted through new scripts and classics, searching for something meaty.

"I think after doing 'View,' I realized that I didn't want to work on anything that wasn't challenging in some way and that brought me into a whole different world. I didn't want to do an easy job," she says.

"One day I was daydreaming and remembered 'Cat' and thought, 'I should read that again,'" she recalls. "It was just terrifying. It was the first thing I felt that way about in the couple of years that I'd been looking."

The actress was raised in New York and she and her mother often made their way to Broadway, seeing "Gypsy," ''Secret Garden," ''Carousel," ''My Fair Lady" with Richard Chamberlain and Brian Dennehy in "Death of a Salesman," among others. Will mom be happy her little girl is back where they shared memories? "I hope so. That's what we all hope, anyway. That mom will be happy," says Johansson.

Though "A View From the Bridge" was her Broadway debut, she had one other stage credit ? in an off-Broadway play in 1993 called "Sophistry" with Ethan Hawke where she had only one line. (She still remembers it ? "Mom, something smells, something smells.") Of her subsequent success, Johansson laughs: "Yeah, moving on up."

After tackling Miller and Williams, is there any stage star she'd still love to portray? Of course: Johansson points to "Sunset Boulevard." ''Someday I want to play Norma Desmond," she says. "But everybody does."

The actress, who is rebounding after divorce to actor Ryan Reynolds and the illegal leak of intimate naked photos, says she tries to live as normal a life as possible.

"It's hard to keep your private life private because people are very prying and they have ideas of your romantic life or the kind of crazy lifestyle you live or whatever," she says. "I live a relatively low-key lifestyle."

That means that Johansson can sometimes be found in Midtown doing something quite unglamorous. Like curbing her pets. "When you've got two dogs, you pick up their poo," she says, laughing.

___

Online: http://www.catonahottinroofbroadway.com

___

Follow Mark Kennedy on Twitter at http://twitter.com/KennedyTwits

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/scarlett-johansson-tones-down-sex-maggie-084919887.html

warren buffett 2012 nfl schedule dishonored april 18 delonte west vanessa williams nicklas backstrom

Thursday, December 20, 2012

Essay: Attack a school and you attack America (Providence Journal)

Share With Friends: Share on FacebookTweet ThisPost to Google-BuzzSend on GmailPost to Linked-InSubscribe to This Feed | Rss To Twitter | Politics - Top Stories Stories, News Feeds and News via Feedzilla.

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/271773689?client_source=feed&format=rss

dolly parton i will always love you beverly hilton hotel whitney houston found dead i will always love you whitney houston 2012 grammy awards powerball results pebble beach golf

Chicago Real Estate Investment Properties Are Hot | Getting Real

By Gary Lucido, today at 9:25 am

Chicago Real Estate Investment Properties Are Hot

In case anyone still cares about real estate after the events of the last few days I thought I would catch you up on what is happening with Chicago's market for investment properties. The confluence of several factors has created a real frenzy for real estate investments:

  • People with cash are desperate for return with paltry returns on bonds and both stocks and bonds perceived as too risky.
  • Record low mortgage rates allow you to generate very high returns on equity with even modest returns on assets.
  • Renting is the only option for a huge segment of households who don't have down payments and whose credit scores have been trashed.
  • A hot rental market tempts investors with the prospect of increasing returns.

The result is that any decent investment property priced reasonably gets multiple bids practically overnight. The last investment property that I put under contract (I represented the buyer) went under contract in 4 days at 13.7% above list price with 6 offers. And that's not unusual. In fact, that has been the norm for several months now.

It should therefore be no surprise that the Chicago Tribune ran a story on Friday on how small rental buildings are up 10% in value from a year ago. This conclusion is based upon a Cook County home price index devised by DePaul University's Institute for Housing Studies. However, the institute goes on to point out that prices are still more than 54% below their peak.

A couple of days earlier CoreLogic released their December MarketPulse Report, which actually reiterates my bullet points above. A lot of what is contained in that report is rather arcane and not particularly useful but I did find the graph below to be interesting. It shows the year over year rent increases for multi-family units and single family homes over the last few years at the national level. The bottom line is that when you can lock in a mortgage payment for an investment property at around a 4% or less interest rate and your rents go up by 2 - 4% per year then your investment return grows nicely over time. Meanwhile, Chicago rent increases have recently been even larger than depicted below. And if inflation goes into high gear - a real possibility given our monetary policy - then these investment properties become the ultimate inflation hedge.

Rent increases

?

Source: http://www.chicagonow.com/getting-real/2012/12/chicago-real-estate-investment-properties/

Sam Champion Hulk Hogan sex tape orioles venezuela Sarah Jones chicago marathon barcelona vs real madrid

Seth Rogen: My Parents' Frank Sex Talk Is "Disgusting"

 

Source: http://www.ivillage.com/seth-rogen-my-parents-frank-sex-talk-disgusting-0/1-a-509407?dst=iv%3AiVillage%3Aseth-rogen-my-parents-frank-sex-talk-disgusting-0-509407

turbo tax katharine mcphee cold mountain valentines day ideas the villages florida egoraptor gisele bundchen

General News. George Washington Athletics Shows Military Appreciation

Dec. 18, 2012

WASHINGTON - The George Washington Department of Athletics and Recreation is proud to announce it will be continuing its military appreciation efforts by offering discounts to all active duty servicemen, women and veterans at all ticketed events at the Charles E. Smith Center and Barcroft Park.

This is the latest in a series of initiatives and events aimed to honor the men and women of our armed forces.

Also as part of the initiative, the men's basketball game against La Salle on February 5 will be Armed Forces Day. The United States Army Color Guard will present the colors and a member of the prestigious US Army Band will sing the national anthem as military personnel and families from across the region are welcomed to Smith Center.

The GW Department of Athletics and Recreation has participated in numerous initiatives surrounding the United States' armed forces this year.

The men's and women's basketball teams held its annual Colonials Invasion season tip-off event at Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall in nearby Fort Myer, Va.,in early November.

The men's basketball team made visits to CNIC/Naval Support Activity in Naples, Italy, and U.S. Army base Camp Darby near the Italian city of Livorno as part of its goodwill tour through the country in August.

Also in August, the George Washington University signed on to join Operation Hat Trick, a co-branded program that generates royalties that go back to support the Veteran's Administration General post Fund.

The Colonials baseball team will don special Operation Hat Trick caps in their game against La Salle on May 18 at Barcroft Park.

Source: http://onlyfans.cstv.com/schools/gewa/genrel/121812aad.html

bcs game lsu vs alabama college football college football ncaa football brian van gorder blazing saddles

Flipboard lands on Android tablets, now supports Nexus 10

Flipboard lands on Android tablets, now supports Nexus 10

It's no secret that we're big fans of Flipboard here at Engadget, but there's one thing we've been longing for: a tablet-optimized Android version. Until now, running the app on the Nexus 10 (by sideloading the APK) or even the Nexus 7 (officially supported) meant living with a scaled-up phone experience. Today, Flipboard is getting updated in the Play Store to supports a variety of Android tablets such as Samsung's Galaxy Note 10.1, the Galaxy Tab series and the Nexus 10. A setting lets you chose between phone and tablet modes, which is useful for mid-size devices like Amazon's Kindle Fire, the Nook and the Nexus 7. Flipboard worked closely with Samsung to optimize the app and take advantage of larger, higher resolution displays. This means more of your favorite tiles, larger story snippets and landscape support (at last). We spent a few hours using Flipboard's new app for Android and came away suitably impressed -- anyone familiar with the iPad version will feel right at home. PR after the break.

Continue reading Flipboard lands on Android tablets, now supports Nexus 10

Filed under: , , ,

Comments

Source: Flipboard (Google Play)

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/nMv75kJLeaA/

state of the union address 2012 obama state of the union 2012 2012 state of the union address jorge posada maurice sendak state of the union sotu

Home builders still feel better, despite 'cliff' concerns

7 hrs.

U.S. home builders continue to feel much better about their industry, but the dramatic gains seen through the summer and fall appear to be moderating.

An industry index measuring home builder sentiment in the single-family market rose two points in December, while November's five-point monthly gain was revised lower by one point.

The National Association of Home Builder's/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index now stands at 47; 50 is the line between positive and negative sentiment. The index stood at 21 in December of 2011.

"Builders across the country are reporting some of the best sales conditions they've seen in more than five years, with more serious buyers coming forward and a shrinking number of vacant and foreclosed properties on the market," observed NAHB Chairman Barry Rutenberg in Tuesday's release. "However, one thing that is still holding back potential home sales is the difficulty that many families are encountering in getting qualified for a mortgage due to today's overly stringent lending standards."

Of the index's three components, current sales rose two points to 51, pushing into positive territory for the first time since the housing crash. Sales expectations over the next six months, while remaining in the positive, dropped one point, and buyer traffic rose one point but is still far from positive territory at 36.

Regionally, home builder sentiment saw its biggest jump in the Northeast, up 12 points month-to-month. Sentiment rose two points in the Midwest, but fell two points in the South and three points in the West. Only in the Midwest are the home builders in solid positive territory.

(Read More: McMansions Return: Big Houses Are Coming Back)

December's gains in sentiment are not as dramatic as the jump in November, as some builders are likely concerned about the possibility of going over the so-called "fiscal cliff." Some builders have already reported laying off workers and delaying projects, concerned that much-needed capital for construction will dry up if a deal cannot be reached by the end of the year.

Last week the CEO's of 18 home building companies, who collectively build 30 percent of the nation's new homes, sent a letter to President Barack Obama and House Speaker John Boehner urging them to avoid the fiscal cliff, even if it means raising taxes on the builders:

"We support a comprehensive agreement in Washington to avoid the fiscal cliff that includes revenue increases (including tax rate adjustments) together with meaningful entitlement reforms. We believe that a properly balanced agreement will breed confidence in the political system and the U.S. economy, will enable the housing market to continue its recovery, and, in turn, will promote broader economic growth."

The letter was signed by the CEOs of publicly traded builders including Beazer Homes, Hovananian Enterprises, KBHome, Lennar, MDC, and Meritage.

(Read More: Best US Housing Markets for Buyers and Sellers)

?By CNBC's Diana Olick; Follow her on Twitter @Diana_Olick or on Facebook at facebook.com/DianaOlickCNBC

Questions? Comments? RealtyCheck@cnbc.com

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/business/economywatch/home-builders-still-feel-better-despite-cliff-concerns-1C7661410

Army Navy Game Psy leann rimes pearl harbor Jacintha Saldanha Grammy nominations 2013 Butch Jones

Small changes in eating prompts weight loss

Small changes in eating prompts weight loss [ Back to EurekAlert! ] Public release date: 19-Dec-2012
[ | E-mail | Share Share ]

Contact: Sandra Cuellar
foodandbrandlab@cornell.edu
607-254-4960
Cornell Food & Brand Lab

The mindless eating challenge: Evaluation of a public web-based healthy eating and weight loss program

Making small easy changes to our eating habits on a consistent basis - 25 days or more per month - can lead to sustainable weight loss, according to research by Professor Brian Wansink in Cornell University's Food and Brand Lab. The challenge is to figure out which changes work for specific individuals and how to stick with changes long enough to make them second nature.

To explore this issue, Cornell researchers launched the National Mindless Eating Challenge (NMEC), an online healthy eating and weight loss program that focused on simple eating behavior changes, instead of dieting.

NMEC participants, after answering questions about their eating goals, background and well-being, were sent three customized tips to follow for a month. All tips were founded on research and based on Wansink's book "Mindless Eating: Why We Eat More than We Think" (Bantam, 2006). Participants could download a checklist to track their adherence to tips and receive email reminders to keep them on track. At the end of each month they were expected to send in a follow-up survey. Of the 504 participants who completed at least one follow-up survey, more than two thirds (42 percent) either lost weight or maintained their weight (27 percent).

Weight loss was highest among people who made changes consistently.

Those whose adherence was 25 or more days per month reported an average monthly weight loss of 2 pounds, and those who stayed in the program at least three months and completed at least two follow-up surveys lost on average 1 percent of their initial weight.

According to the study, which is published in the peer-reviewed Journal of Medical Internet Research (Nov-Dec., Vol. 14:6), common barriers that prevented people from making changes included personally unsuitable tips, forgetting, being too busy, unusual circumstances such as vacations and emotional eating.

"These results confirm that small, consistent changes in our daily eating behavior can result in gradual weight loss and in developing healthier eating habits," said Wansink, a marketing professor in Cornell's Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management. Results of the study also show that it is a challenge for many people to stick to a program for a long period of time. For those who want to lose weight or eat more healthfully, the researchers conclude that finding an initial set of tips that are relevant and doable for an individual can be enough to learn the general principle.

"Later come up with your own changes and succeed at reaching your goal," Wansink said.

The NMEC participants said that the most effective tips they received were:

  • Keep counters clear of all foods but the healthy ones.
  • Never eat directly from a package always portion food out onto a dish.
  • Eat something hot for breakfast within the first hour of waking up.
  • Avoid going more than thee or four hours without having something small to eat.
  • Put down your utensils between bites to slow down your eating.

###


[ Back to EurekAlert! ] [ | E-mail | Share Share ]

?


AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.


Small changes in eating prompts weight loss [ Back to EurekAlert! ] Public release date: 19-Dec-2012
[ | E-mail | Share Share ]

Contact: Sandra Cuellar
foodandbrandlab@cornell.edu
607-254-4960
Cornell Food & Brand Lab

The mindless eating challenge: Evaluation of a public web-based healthy eating and weight loss program

Making small easy changes to our eating habits on a consistent basis - 25 days or more per month - can lead to sustainable weight loss, according to research by Professor Brian Wansink in Cornell University's Food and Brand Lab. The challenge is to figure out which changes work for specific individuals and how to stick with changes long enough to make them second nature.

To explore this issue, Cornell researchers launched the National Mindless Eating Challenge (NMEC), an online healthy eating and weight loss program that focused on simple eating behavior changes, instead of dieting.

NMEC participants, after answering questions about their eating goals, background and well-being, were sent three customized tips to follow for a month. All tips were founded on research and based on Wansink's book "Mindless Eating: Why We Eat More than We Think" (Bantam, 2006). Participants could download a checklist to track their adherence to tips and receive email reminders to keep them on track. At the end of each month they were expected to send in a follow-up survey. Of the 504 participants who completed at least one follow-up survey, more than two thirds (42 percent) either lost weight or maintained their weight (27 percent).

Weight loss was highest among people who made changes consistently.

Those whose adherence was 25 or more days per month reported an average monthly weight loss of 2 pounds, and those who stayed in the program at least three months and completed at least two follow-up surveys lost on average 1 percent of their initial weight.

According to the study, which is published in the peer-reviewed Journal of Medical Internet Research (Nov-Dec., Vol. 14:6), common barriers that prevented people from making changes included personally unsuitable tips, forgetting, being too busy, unusual circumstances such as vacations and emotional eating.

"These results confirm that small, consistent changes in our daily eating behavior can result in gradual weight loss and in developing healthier eating habits," said Wansink, a marketing professor in Cornell's Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management. Results of the study also show that it is a challenge for many people to stick to a program for a long period of time. For those who want to lose weight or eat more healthfully, the researchers conclude that finding an initial set of tips that are relevant and doable for an individual can be enough to learn the general principle.

"Later come up with your own changes and succeed at reaching your goal," Wansink said.

The NMEC participants said that the most effective tips they received were:

  • Keep counters clear of all foods but the healthy ones.
  • Never eat directly from a package always portion food out onto a dish.
  • Eat something hot for breakfast within the first hour of waking up.
  • Avoid going more than thee or four hours without having something small to eat.
  • Put down your utensils between bites to slow down your eating.

###


[ Back to EurekAlert! ] [ | E-mail | Share Share ]

?


AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.


Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2012-12/cfb-sci121912.php

dystonia tourettes gonzaga rosie o donnell soda bread recipe vanderbilt evan mathis

Dutch government's think-tank in recession call

(AP) ? The Dutch government's financial think-tank has joined the central bank in forecasting a recession in 2013 as a result of waning global trade prospects.

The Central Planning Bureau said Wednesday the Dutch economy would shrink 0.5 percent, in contrast to its previous forecast of 0.75 percent growth. Last week the central bank predicted a 0.6 percent contraction, reversing its previous forecast of a 0.6 percent expansion.

If the Dutch economy shrinks again in the fourth quarter following the 1.1 percent quarterly contraction recorded in the third quarter, it will be in recession, officially defined as two straight quarters of negative growth.

Because the recession will likely dent tax revenues and increase welfare payments, both forecasters are predicting that the country's budget deficit will be slightly above the 3 percent of GDP limit mandated by European rules.

Finance Minister Jeroen Dijsselbloem said Tuesday he was aware of the worsening projections but that he has no plans to alter the budget struck last month.

The new centrist government is bent on austerity via a mix of spending cuts to please Prime Minister Mark Rutte's ruling conservative VVD party, and tax increases for the wealthy, a goal of the other coalition partner, Dijsselbloem's left-leaning Labor Party.

The Dutch economy is regarded as one of the most robust in Europe, with a tradition as a haven for free trade, as well as a center of engineering expertise. It has a host of international companies and strong transport links such as the Port of Rotterdam and Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam.

However, it has seen its fortunes wane recently as trade was hit by the anemic growth across the 17 EU countries that use the euro and an aggressive government cost-cutting program. Attempts to reform the mortgage system have hit house prices and caused dislocation in the construction sector.

Unemployment, currently at 6.25 percent, is forecast to peak next year at 7 percent.

Despite its current problems, the Netherlands continues to have a triple A credit rating from the three main agencies, though Standard & Poor's recently put the country on notice that it may suffer a downgrade.

Dijsselbloem, with less than two months on the job as a top government executive, has become a surprise favorite to replace Jean-Claude Juncker as head of the Eurogroup, the body that encompasses the finance ministers of the 17 euro countries.

On Friday, Dijsselbloem said he would consider taking the position if it were offered him, but he downplayed chances ? even as he visited Berlin. Germany has insisted Juncker's replacement must come from a triple A-rated country.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2012-12-19-Netherlands-Economy/id-ad242c435f494de59f0087e722dff2a3

tim tebow homeland homeland snl WWE peter frampton smokey robinson

How to Build Your Family Tree on the Web

Researching your family tree seems as easy as conducting a Google search, but there's actually much more work and fact-checking involved, if you want to do it right.

Ancestry.com is no longer the only option when it comes to searching digital archives, connecting with others and compiling a family tree. A new crop of geneaology sites popping up on the Internet are providing some alternatives. MyHeritage and Archives.com are two useful sites that have great layouts and access to plenty of documents. On these sites you can find census records, scanned birth, marriage and death certificates, family photos and newspaper clippings, and compile these into a beautiful, digital tree.

MyHeritage uses the social web to broden your family tree using living, distant relatives plus census records.

But the first thing you need to know when researching your ancestors is that you'll need to get birth, marriage and death certificates of your suspected family members when those documents are available in order to be sure you're related to them. Genealogy websites let you build a tree using information others have already entered into the site, which can often lead to errors in your family tree if you don't fact check. You might think there weren't many people named Fanny White in rural Ohio in the 1800s but, turns out, there are a few -- a lot of seemingly uncommon names were fairly common in their day. Oftentimes you can find these documents online; other times finding them involves reaching out to county clerks' offices in the relevant town and requesting records via postal mail. Census records in the United States only go back until 1790 (and are pretty sparse the farther back you go); the 1890 census records were destroyed in a fire, so you won't find those, either. If you're researching African-American ancestors in the United States, it's unlikely you'll be able to find any records that pre-date the Civil War.

To keep things interesting along the way (research like this is a long process), you might want to try to locate pictures and newspaper clippings to add more context to your ancestor's stories.

Denie Kazan, a geneaologist at MyHeritage.com tells Mashable there are two phases in genealogy research: The first phase is when you gather all the information about the direct ancestors that you know yourself, heard about from family or found in the archives. This step is the time-consuming part. In the second phase, you go through all the details, do your best to verify them and, if relevant, add them to your tree.

MyHeritage offers a Smart Matching technology that uses the social web to grow your family tree horizontally by automatically finding matches with other family trees on the site.

"The millions of confirmed Smart Matches we have every month also enable families to take their research global, as our collection of family trees -- currently totaling 24 million and with well over one billion individuals -- is the most geographically diverse and international in the world," he said.

"Although we've built our technologies to try and mimic a human genealogist -- mistakes can still be made and it's up to the user to fully verify the information," Kazan adds.

The Record Matching technology will add some flavor to your family story by automatically finding relevant historical records relevant to your ancestors. With Record Matching, users can find birth, death, census, immigration and gravestone pictures.

Kazan used the social web to help me research my family tree. Using MyHeritage he found 1,004 people, 1,085 Smart Matches and 883 Record Matches in five collections. The MyHeritage Matches (with other user-generated info in MyHeritage family trees and records on MyHeritage) gave me a lot of new leads and also brought up some never-before-seen newspaper articles mentioning my ancestors.

If you've seen the show Who Do You Think You Are?, where each episode a different celebrity has their ancestry traced by historians and geneaologists, you know that birth and death records aren't the only way to find information. Really, if you want to trace your ancestry it's going to take some detective work and a lot of patience. But you can also have a lot of fun in the process -- it's like solving a mystery. Tap into historical societies' databases as well as county clerks offices in the town where your ancestors lived.

You might also find the website FindAGrave.com useful, but keep in mind contributors upload the content, so you'll need to fact check that information too, but it could provide some leads.

Archives.com is a site I tried out for three months with a LivingSocial coupon. The look of the family tree was beautiful, and super easy to navigate. Sometimes when you're looking at generation after generation of people, it can get confusing and you can lose track of who was related to who. My biggest issue with this site is you have to be willing to spend money for every record you access, like $5-$10. And not all of those records will be useful in your search, so that can add up to a lot of money. You might want to use the site for its good family tree layout and find the information elsewhere.

For years, genealogists have used Ancestry.com. The website was acquired by an investor group in late October for $1.6 billion, but a spokesperson for Ancestry.com tells Mashable "There are no anticipated changes in Ancestry.com?s operating structure."

Of course, no matter what site you use, finding out all this information takes a lot of work. If you're not interested in pursuing genealogy as a hobby, you might want to hire a genealogist, which you can find through these sites.

Are you researching your family tree using one of these sites or one not mentioned in this article? Tell us in the comments.

Photo courtesy of iStockphoto, mashabuba

Source: http://mashable.com/2012/12/19/genealogy-research-family-tree/

tax refund calculator huntington disease west memphis three taxes game of thrones season 2 trailer sag award winners girl scout cookies

Wednesday, December 19, 2012

"Family Guy," "Haven" episodes pulled due to Newtown shootings rescheduled

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - In a possible sign that the nation - or at least network programmers are beginning to regain their composure after Friday's horrific school shootings in Newtown, Conn., episodes of Fox's "Family Guy" and Syfy's "Haven" have been rescheduled.

The "Family Guy" episode "Jesus, Mary and Joseph," which was initially scheduled to run on Sunday before being pulled from the schedule following the massacre, will now air this upcoming Sunday.

While the episode isn't particularly violent, the holiday parody episode does poke fun at religion - something that might not have sat well in the days following the killings.

An episode of "American Dad" that also was pulled last Sunday has not yet been rescheduled.

The "Reunion" episode of Syfy's "Haven," which was due to air Friday night - the same day of the shootings - will now run on January 17, along with the show's season finale. That episode features fictional gun violence.

In addition to the "Family Guy" and "Haven" postponements, the TLC special "Best Funeral Ever" had its December 26 premiere date pushed back to January, while a recent episode of the ABC drama "Scandal," which depicted the killing of a family of four, was removed from the network's website Monday.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/family-guy-haven-episodes-pulled-due-newtown-shootings-184914880.html

the national enquirer marie colvin cm punk cm punk lint buenos aires train crash argentina train crash